To make data objects available to report developers using Actuate BIRT Designer, place the data objects in a shared resource folder, just as you do with other shared resources, such as libraries and style sheets.
To make data objects available to dashboard and BIRT Studio users, you must publish the data objects in an iHub Encyclopedia volume. From the iHub perspective, a data object is a resource, similar to Java classes, image files, or libraries, which are resources for reports published in iHub.
You can publish data object design (.datadesign) files or data object stores (.data). A common strategy is to publish the design files, then schedule those files to be run regularly to generate the data object stores. To manage system resources effectively, iHub volume administrators can make the data object stores generally available to users while limiting access to the data object design files.
How to publish a data object in an iHub volume
1 Create an iHub profile, which specifies the information to connect to an iHub volume.
2 Place the data object in the BIRT resource folder. The location of the resource folder is specified in the Preferences page, which you access by choosing Windows➛Preference from the main menu, then choosing Report Design—Resource. The default location is the current project folder.
3 Choose File➛Publish to iHub. Select Publish Resources, then select the data object to publish.
For more information about creating an iHub profile, assigning a resource folder in iHub, and publishing items to an iHub volume, see
“Deploying BIRT reports to iHub,” later in this book. For information about managing files in iHub, see
Managing an Encyclopedia Volume.
